185 Entering Aazoon (1/2)

Though it did share the southeast edge of Reinolt's South Forest, the Aazoon Kingdom only owned that small strip of land in order to have a direct route to the Polt Federation. The majority of their kingdom was to the east of the South Forest. There, it was a frozen tundra with Icicle Mountains at its center.

The Aazoon capital, Frostburn City, was located in between the Icicle Mountains and very hard to reach for travelers that had never been there before.

Technically, Jack had been there before but it was through his computer screen. He'd much rather have a guide to make things go smoothly.

And even though Bowzer was still asleep, Jack wanted to test his new strength.

Thanks to the frenzied bears, everyone in the party had leveled up at least once, including their beasts. Some lucky people at the edge of their level were even able to go up two levels.

Eliza was the lowest of them all at lv. 31, but her Forest Dryad jumped to levels to reach lv. 33.

Jack and Bowzer were next, both at lv. 32.

Happy to not be the weakest, Keela had also managed to skip through an entire level and reach lv. 32 while her Light Fairy was now lv. 34.

Rydel was also lv. 32 now, happy to not be the weakest despite his age. His Wind Roc barely managed to level up, keeping its status as the strongest in the party at lv. 37.

Muara and her cetus followed after that, at lv. 33 and lv. 35 respectively.

Finally, Maynard had been able to level up. And with his Thunder Cat, they both went up two levels. Now, they were both lv. 35.

It may nor seem like much after facing dozens of giant, frenzied bears and a pridelord, but it meant a lot to them. The higher the levels went, the harder it was to grind. For them to level up at all so quickly made them all happy.

Jack was the only one who was unaffected by the level gains. In his mind, he could've grinded for hours in-game and get there much quicker. Though the circumstances were different, they still affected Jack's perspective on leveling.

Now, the party was stronger and had a better sense of unity since they had already had their first battle. Entering a new country together would be perfect to help them bond and grow closer.

Glad to be on his feet, Jack was waiting downstairs in the tavern with the girls. Soon, Rydel and Maynard came down with a group of five men. That group of lv. 30's were the men that Rydel had convinced to become their guides.

When the leader of that group saw Jack, he hesitated and gave him a second look. ”You're Jack, right? The new hero in the association?”

”Right. And you are?”

”Can you take us to Frostburn City?” asked Jack.

Shaking his head, Karo replied, ”Sadly, I can't. We, the Snow Guild, are based in Quazur. We can help you enter the tundra and take you as far as the Quazur, but from there you'll be on your own. But there are guides you can hire once you enter Quazur.”

”Good to know, thanks.”

With a polite bow, Jack looked over the rest of Karo's party. They were well-rounded, but they were all warriors despite having long-ranged, mid-ranged, and close combat covered amongst the five of them.

”Well, let's hurry up and get going. We've got to reach Frostburn City as fast as possible.”

Letting Karo and his men take the lead, Jack's party followed them out of town. Thanks to the lack of horses from the recent bear attacks, they were forced to travel on foot until they reached the border town inside Aazoon's borders.

It took them a couple of days, but they managed to get there without any trouble whatsoever.

Since the Reinolt Kingdom and the Aazoon Kingdom were in a trade agreement, the borders had no checkpoints and were free to cross. This made things a lot easier since both border towns were used to having visitors from the other country.